Railroad Commission chairwoman resigns

AUSTIN — The crowded Republican race for a seat in the three-member Texas Railroad Commission made an unexpected turn on Monday.

Commission chairwoman Elizabeth Ames Jones, who is running for a Texas Senate seat in San Antonio, resigned her position, leaving the door open for Gov. Rick Perry to appoint someone to serve the remaining 11 months of her six-year term or let Texas voters decide.

Pampa’s state Rep. Warren Chisum, one of five Republicans running for the open seat, said Perry may choose the second option.

“I anticipate that the governor will decide to let the primary run its course,” Chisum said.

Nonetheless, as he did last year when another Railroad Commission seat opened up, he will let the governor know that he is available for an appointment if Perry decides to fill the position, Chisum said.

If that were the case, he would first have to resign his Texas House seat because no sitting member of the Legislature can be appointed to the post, Chisum said.

No one at Perry’s press office was available for comment because Jones’ resignation came late in the afternoon, and Mark Miner, the governor’s chief spokesman, didn’t return a call to his cellphone.

Calls for comment left for Christi Craddick of Austin and Roland Sledge of Houston, who along with Chisum are considered the main contenders for the position, mainly because of the money they have raised for the statewide race, were not returned either.

The other two Republicans in the railroad commissioner race are Becky Berger of Schulenberg, a rural community about halfway between Austin and Houston, and Beryl Burgess of San Benito, a small community in the Brownsville area.

On the Democratic primary, Dale Henry of the Central Texas community of Lampasas — who ran unsuccessfully in 2006 and 2008 — is running unopposed.

Although Jones was planning to remain on the commission until her term expired in January, she decided to step down on Monday because Sen. Jeff Wentworth, whom she is challenging in the hard-fought Republican primary, had made her residency a campaign issue.

The Texas Constitution states a statewide official must reside in Austin and if that is the case, Jones cannot claim to be a resident of San Antonio, Wentworth has argued.

In her letter of resignation to Perry, Jones said she was stepping down to put an end to her residency issue.

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